Seventy years ago today, on June 25, 1955 (May 6, 1955 in the lunar calendar), the South African People's Congress was convened. On June 25, 1955, the African National Congress of South Africa, the Indian Congress, the Colored People's Congress, the Democratic People's Congress and the South African Trade Union Congress jointly held the South African People's Congress in Johannesburg. The congress was attended by 3,000 delegates and 20,000 people from all over the country. The conference lasted for 2 days and adopted the Freedom Charter as a program for the struggle of all democratic forces. It demanded that the country be governed by the people; that all South Africans enjoy equal citizenship rights; that Africans recognize autonomy and national independence; that forced labor be abolished and that the tillers have their own land; that all resources, banks and monopolies be transferred to all the people, and that radical changes be implemented in all spheres of life. This conference marked a new stage in the South African democracy movement and the first time that progressive forces of Africans, Indians, whites, and people of color had formed alliances and coordinated to fight together for a new democratic system.